LeadForward Vol.1 No. 3

Snapping Out of Fake Reality: How Leaders Really Transform Culture Culture

Culture

in the spotlight STEVE GANDERA Article from the interview with Steve Gandara on The Nonprofit Exchange

I often tell people that I did not choose this work. I got pulled into it. Nearly five decades ago I stepped into what I describe as a divine vortex. I was invited into a business that focused on transformation for people. The first time I led a workshop and watched the change in people’s lives, I felt something very similar to the runner in the movie “Chariots of Fire.” He said he felt God’s pleasure when he ran. In my case, I felt God’s pleasure when I watched people transform in front of me. From that moment, I knew I was supposed to spend my life in this space. Over the last 47 years, I have worked with individual leaders, small businesses, nonprofits, and some of the largest companies in the world. Along the way, my team and I have learned from scientists, clients, and our own mistakes. One conclusion has never changed in my mind: culture drives everything. I believe culture is the most talked about and least understood concept in leadership. Everyone has a definition, but very few people have ever looked one up. That is a problem. If one person is picturing an apple, another an orange, and another a papaya, it is hard to have a useful conversation about “fruit.” Culture feels like trying to hug a bowl of Jell-O. Here is the simple definition I work from. If you combine the standard definitions from top business schools, culture is the set of beliefs that govern how people behave. Those beliefs shape how individuals act and how groups function together.

“Culture is not a slogan or a poster on the wall; it is the hidden system of beliefs that governs how people really behave.”

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